Integrate Linear Data in the Pentaho Report Designer

The CData JDBC driver for Linear data enables access to live data from dashboards and reports. This article shows how to connect to Linear data as a JDBC data source and publish reports based on Linear data in Pentaho.

Connect and Create a Report

1. Copy the JAR file of the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, to the \Report-Designer\lib\jdbc\ folder in the Pentaho directory.
2. Run the report-designer.bat file in the \Report-Designer\ folder to open the Report-Designer UI.

3. Create a new data source with the driver by clicking Data -> Add Data Source -> Advanced -> JDBC (Custom) and then creating a new Linear connection. In the resulting dialog, configure the connection properties as shown below.

   • Custom Connection URL property: Enter the JDBC URL. This starts with jdbc:linear: and is followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

     You can authenticate to Linear with a personal API key or with OAuth 2.0. The API key is the simplest option for connecting with your own Linear account.

     Authenticating with an API Key

     Set the following connection properties:

     • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
     • APIKey: A Linear personal API key.

     To create a personal API key, log in to Linear, open Settings > Security & access > Personal API keys, select New API key, and create it. Copy the key immediately, because Linear shows it only once.

     Authenticating with OAuth

     OAuth requires a custom OAuth application registered in Linear (Settings > API > OAuth applications), which provides the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret. Two flows are supported:

     • Authorization code: Set AuthScheme to OAuth, InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH, and provide OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and the CallbackURL defined in your application (e.g., http://localhost:33333). The driver opens Linear in your browser so you can grant access.
     • Client credentials: Set AuthScheme to OAuthClient and provide OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret. This authenticates the application itself, with no browser interaction, and suits machine-to-machine integrations.

     By default, the driver requests the read,write scopes. The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

     Built-in Connection String Designer

     For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the Linear JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

     
     java -jar cdata.jdbc.linear.jar
     

     Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

     

     When you configure the JDBC URL, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

     Below is a typical JDBC URL:

     jdbc:linear:AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=myAPIKey;

   • Custom Driver Class Name: Enter cdata.jdbc.linear.LinearDriver.
   • User Name: The username to authenticate with.
   • Password: The password to authenticate with.
   

Add Linear Data to a Report

You are now ready to create a report with Linear data.

1. Add the Linear source to your report: Click Data -> Add Data Source -> JDBC and select the data source.

2. Configure the query. This article uses the one below:

   SELECT id, name FROM Team WHERE key = 'ENG'

   
3. Drag a chart onto your report and double-click it to edit the chart. Run the report to display the chart. You can use the results of this query to create a simple chart for the Team table.
4. Finally, run the report to see the chart.